Hyperkeratosis is a thickening and hardening of the outer layer of a person's skin. The outer layer of skin contains a tough, protective protein called keratin. Skin thickening and hardening is a normal response against application of abnormal pressure and friction from rubbing on an area of skin, such as the result of the person's hands and feet being used in the performance of hard work and labor. The abnormal pressure and friction causes the skin to form a hard, protective surface, a callus.
Repeated handling of an object that puts abnormal pressure and/or creates abnormal friction on the hands, such as from tools, sports equipment and the like, typically causes calluses on the hands. Abnormal pressure and friction created by footwear or by walking barefoot causes calluses on the feet.
One conventional process of removing a callus has the following three steps. First, soaking the callused feet/hands with a solution containing baking soda or Epsom salts for half an hour or so to soften the hardened skin. Second, scrubbing the callused feet/hands using a file or pumice stone to remove the calluses. Third, drying the feet/hands and then sprinkling them with a small amount of cornstarch. However, many persons don't have time to follow this lengthy process and so seek to find an alternative approach that can be used equally well to remove calluses in much less time.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for an innovation that will overcome the deficiencies of past approaches and the problems that remain unsolved.